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Friday, 2 October 2015

Photograph 51 starring Nicole Kidman announces charity gala

It has been announced that the West End production of Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler starring Nicole Kidman as as Rosalind Franklin will hold a charity gala performance on 19th November 2015.

The event will celebrate the partnership between the Michael Grandage Company and King’s College London.

All proceeds from the evening’s performance will go to support the charitable work of the Cancer Centre at Guy's Hospital as part of the World questions King's answers campaign and the Michael Grandage Company's education work through its charity MGCfutures.

It was at King’s College London that Franklin took Photograph 51, which lead to the discovery of DNA, and around which the play is based. During rehearsals, the company visited the King’s Archives where they were shown crucial objects to the discovery of DNA including the Philips micro camera used by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, letters written between Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick and Jim Watson, and the original slide of Photograph 51 itself.

Grandage said today: “It has been a huge privilege to collaborate with King's College London, to be given access to the extraordinary archives at King’s where our story begins, to view Photograph 51 itself and to benefit from the knowledge and expertise of their academic team. This charity evening enables us to celebrate that relationship and to raise funds for both the Cancer Centre at Guy's Hospital and for MGCfutures - the charitable arm of our company which helps enable us to support new and emerging creative practitioners, develop new young audiences and open up a range of interactive experiences for young people eager to learn more about our industry.”

Professor Edward Byrne, President & Principal of King’s College London said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Michael Grandage Company to give theatregoers the opportunity to both enjoy a performance of this play and contribute to these important causes. Rosalind Franklin was an incredible scientist and her discoveries have led to important medical developments, which we use to this day. It’s great that we’re able to celebrate her life and contributions to science with this special charity performance.”

Photograph 51 runs at the Noel Coward Theatre until 21st November 2015.